Winter comes to Storeybrook
by lylame
Summary: Arya finds herself in storybook. Winter is coming and nobody is prepared for the horrors of westerns. Can fairytale characters handle themselves when they are up against an unknown enemy of steel and fire? (Feedback would be appreciated) [Arya S.]a GoT AU. crossover with Once upon a time.
1. Chapter 1

**Synopsis:** 3rd season of OUAT. A second curse hits. the people of the enchanted forrest lost a year. This time the curse was cast for different reasons and new people were brought to Storeybrook. The walls between the realms can only take so much of a beating. Some of the walls are breaking, and new people are in town. Going to fill in some background while main cast is dealing with the wicked witch. Not everybody is in the Swann inner circle. Winter is coming to Storeybrooke

**note: ** have had this idea for a long time. Let me know if I should continue.

**Disclaimer: ** I own nothing of the book or tv shoes characters. I thought that was common knowledge I see a lot of disclaimers here so i thought i should be safe and state the obvious. THanks, G.R.R. Martin, Katisis and Horowitz

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Arya sat on her haunches and leaned back against the trunk of an oak tree. She closed her eyes while she tried to catch her breath. She had ran at least four miles through the forest at a mad sprint. She grabbed her left side as her lungs stung crying out to take in air. It had been a close call she had been foolish, giving into panic. What would Syrio think of her now? Syrio would never run.

She had spent the last four weeks in these woods. She knew where the river thinned and she could cross by leaping from rocks. She knew the deer paths and short cuts to the farms that sat along the forest fence. She had set up refuges where she was could easily hunt the wild game and sleep. She knew that a dug out was another quarter mile to the east. She needed to calm as still water and swift as deer to get there.

Taking a calming breath she pushed herself off the tree and picked her way over fallen trees and sharp rocks. _'fear cuts deeper than swords_'. She remembered the lesson. She was scared and she needed to control her fear. She leapt over a tree root and down the side of a ditch, sliding down on her bottom, grateful that it hadn't rained recently or else her pants would be soaked through with water and mud.

She slowed when she reached a shallow gully. She pulled back a large bush at the far edge and slipped into an alcove. Large rocks from the side of a hill were two walls to her favorite forest home. A massive tree whose roots had been pulled from the ground formed what Arya thought of as her chair and shelves. The overhanging rocks and branches she had cut and tied together with vines provided half of a roof to protect her from rain at the highest point in her den. She had an escape route under the roots where she could crawl out and slide down the hill and into the stream if need be.

She swung the bag over he shoulder on the dirt floor and laid down on the mat she had set up as her bed.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid.' She said to herself.

She had been exploring a nearby farm where she had filled her bag with vegetables from a garden. She had been daring and explored a storm shed where she found a small knife that although it had obviously been abandoned for some time it held a sharp edge. She pocketed a blue knit cap and was startled for a moment when she saw a large cage in back of the room. The room was too dark to see the back of the cage. She backed away, not wishing to linger in a place that felt so dangerous.

As she neared the stairs that led to sunlight, she caught the glinting from the floor. She bent down and picked up a long thin piece of metal. What she had originally though was straw was in fact…Gold. She quickly grabbed a handful of the stuff and swung her bag over her shoulder to open the zipper and place her new treasure.

"Watcha Got there dearie. He he"

Arya jumped. "whose there?" She was startled but she was a Stark, she would hide it and face whoever challenged her.

"I should be asking you that. What poor creature would venture in the dark? Grab that string above your head and turn on the light so I can see you child."

Arya hesitated for less than half a second. Fear had no room in her heart. She pulled the string and the room was filled with the artificial light she still hadn't become accustomed too. It filled the houses and lit up the night sky blocking out the stars. She didn't like this light. She grimaced because of the glare and looked into the cage and saw a man, if that is what you could call him, with long hair that covered his face. He was hunched over sitting in the corner fiddling with something in his hand. She stepped closer.

"I will ask again, who are you?" She said a voice much stronger than she felt.

"What a terrible question, for I have many names." He looked at her with watery eyes that demanded she look nowhere else but at him. His skin was pale and gaunt, drawn tight over his face. There was an air of madness. "You have many names too, girl."

"I'm not a girl." She shouted, stepping forward.

"He he he yes you are. I have been waiting for you girl. Although you are here early. Too early, tick tock goes the clock, too early."

"Who are you!"

He moved closer to the bars of the cage so quickly she almost gave a yelp in alarm. He spoke to her in a low voice, all madness evaporating and the beast within burned bright in his eyes. "Runaway little wolf, now is not the time for us." He reached out a thin arm grabbing the front of her shirt. "Runaway little wolf. Stay hidden, stay safe. Four lives depend on you to stay safe. Rivers will burn dry, trees will climb hills, birds will sink or swim and the departed will walk again, what was lost will be returned and enemies will stand united. You must run, dearie before all hope is lost." He shoved an object into her hand and flung her away from the bars. "Runaway"

She stumbled backwards till the back of her legs hit the steps. Fear started to creep in.

"Tick tock, goes the clock, girls too early but shes got a bark."

This man acted as if he was mad and his words made no sense. Why was he down here at an abandoned farm? She turned on her heels and fled not wanting to wait to find answers.

She made it the edge of the forest in a few quick strides. Ducking under low hanging branches she adjusted her pack over her shoulders. She opened her fist to look at the object he had placed in her palm. A piece of paper wrapped around a hard object. She carefully unwrapped the paper to reveal a piece of black rock, its texture foreign to the touch. Smooth with sharp edges that weighed more than the small object should. It reflected light similar to a prism, like it was made of glass. It was carved into a Direwolf. It was beautiful, the ears and snout long, sitting and howling to the moon. She looked down at the paper and realized it held a message. The words on the paper were what had her running for her forest home. Her words.

-Arya

Winter is coming

-Rumplestilskin


	2. Chapter 2: Scent of a Crime

**Disclaimer: ** I dot own the characters. Those belong to Katsis, Horowitz, and G.R.R. Martin

**A/N: ** Reviews and comments are requested/welcome/appreciated. Even criticism

Chapter 2

~Ruby ~

"Ruby, will you take the trash out. Its overflowing and I will not work in a disorderly kitchen" Granny asked Ruby as the vibrant young woman bounced up to the order counter.

"Granny, I am up to my neck in customers." She stated.

"Hey Emil" Ruby turned to the young quick order chef and turned on her thousand watt smile. "Would you do me a favor?" She batted her lashes.

"Oi. I am working here too princess." He waved her off with his spatula.

"But if you do me this favor I would be forever indebted to you. Besides, I am too weak to pick up that large bag. You wouldn't want to make a helpless young lady do that would?"

"Forever eh?" he chuckled. He and Ruby played this game every now and than. He liked that she tried to use her wiles to make him do her chores. Even when they both knew she was barking up the wrong tree. But it was a game he was willing to play. "Okay princess but you have to help me clean the deep freezer tonight."

"Deal" she smiled grabbed her orders and moved towards dinning area.

Ruby moved around the counter balancing two plates on her left arm and a coffee carafe in her right hand. The dinner was busy with the breakfast crowd. The dwarves had taken up all of the seats at the counter eating their weight in bacon and the booths were filled with town's folk reading papers and engaging in idle gossip.

She didn't particularly like being surrounded by people. Her wolf survival instincts made her seek separation from people who once turned on her and cornered her with pitchforks and fire. She tolerated them for her family, granny and Snow. She plastered on a disingenuous smile and flirted her way through the day. Her reputation as a hopeless flirt allowed her to keep her finger on the pulse of the town. She knew the gossip and the comings and goings of the town better than anyone. Well, besides Granny.

She couldn't help shake the feeling that they were missing something important. Everybody was so preoccupied with Zelena that there wasn't room for other complications. She set the food down and began refilling coffee mugs. Zoning in and out of the mindless chatter that filled the room.

-_"I know Gladys, I would pay a pixies weight in gold to watch the Kardashians play scrabble"_

_ -"I don't know why you are acting this way, I would want to know if something made me look fat."_

_ -"I told you I didn't lose it, it was stolen! Can't you trust me just once?"_

_ "Why would somebody want to steal your bookbag?"_

_ -"I swear to god if you eat beans one more time down in the mines, I am setting you on fire Leroy"_

_ "At this rate I won't have anything left for the farmers market, I thought it was a rodent but they are being completely removed. I am going to have to sit out in my garden with a shotgun at this rate."_

_ "….I always pay my debts. You should come work for me…"_

_ -"Are you sure he's not gay? I mean come on what straight man wears that much leather in public?"_

Ruby couldn't contain the bark of laughter after hearing that last statement. She was going to relish telling Killian that the attractive females in town were questioning his sexuality.

It seemed there was a thief in town, Ruby thought. We are fairytale creatures and not the 'Dick and Jane' variety. It was surprising that there wasn't more petty crime in town. She stored that information away for later to share with Emma.

"Ruby!"

Granny shouting from the kitchen pulled Ruby out of her thoughts and she turned to address the disgruntled woman.

"What?" She asked petulantly.

"Emil isn't back yet. He went to take the trash out. Its been more than ten minutes. Go check on him. If he's not back in five I will find somebody else who can do his job." With that order turned and went back to flipping pancakes.

She loved her gran but it wasn't always to like her. Would it have killed her to say please? Damn it, She was 29 years old, or 60 if you added cursed years. She didn't like being treated like a child.

She exited the diner and turned toward the dumpster grumbling to herself.

"EMIL! Where are you? Gran is going to shit a brick if you don't get back here."

The faint sickly sweet copper smell reached her nose stopping her in her tracks. She turned her head and looked down the ally. She sniffed again and followed the scent. It became stronger and more acrid the closer she came to the dumpsters. It was an all too familiar scent. The closer she came to the origin she began to taste it. Blood.

Her wolf sense told her this is where the smell was coming from. It was too strong, too fresh. Checking her surrounding she couldn't see any other person down the ally. A car backfired from the street and she could hear laughter trickling out of the diner, but there was not a living soul in the alley with her. She closed her eyes and tried to focus all of her energy on the smell.

It was mixed with the smell of rotting food from the dumpster, shit, and fear. It was overwhelming. She moved to walk around the dumpsters when she saw the thin stream of blood flowing onto the pavement. When she rounded the corner she saw a grizzly sight. She covered her mouth and bit back a sob.

Time stood still as she looked on with horror at the sight of her friend. Emil was lying prone on the ground staring up into the sky with unseeing eyes. His once beautiful face was twisted with permanently etched look of terror. His black hair had turned white. Blood splattered his face and small gash was at his temple. Blood pooled around his body and as she moved to back away she lost her balance and fell face first, catching herself on her hands next to his body.

She swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat for being so close to death. She reached out with a shaky blood coated hand to touch his shoulder and screamed ripped from her throat when half of his torso moved.

He was nearly cleaved in two from collar to waist. No animal could have done this. It was a clean line. Somebody had chopped him down. Gran had said he had been gone for less than ten minutes so the murderer might still be near by. That sobering fact pushed her into action.

She got up and sprinted back into the diner. No one had heard her screams and where startled to see Ruby shaking like a leaf in the wind in the middle of the dinner. Blood smeared over her white blouse and on her hands. Her complexion ashen and her eyes were unfocused as she made her way to the front door. She had one thought racing through her mind. "Emil, I shouldn't have left Emil there. I should have been the one outside."

"You stupid careless ridiculous girl, what did you do?" Granny came up grabbing Ruby the chin and looking her over. "Where are you hurt?" She asked in sharp tone.

"the blood…its…its…It's Emil. He's dead. Somebody killed him."


	3. Chapter 3: Negotiations 101

**A/N: **This is my first real fanfic ever. So please bare with me. I think this chapter is really going to set off the rest of the action. it was hard to write the dialogue, i hope i captured some of the cadence. So please be kind and review. Love feedback.

**Disclaimer: i still don't own the characters or locations. O but if i did i would make them dance to my wicked tune.**

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**~Arya~**

Arya stared into the flames of her small cooking fire. Her loneliness was always her worst enemy. Although her year on the run in Westeros was perilous, it could not compare to the moments of desperation she felt in her isolation. 'The lone wolf dies but the pack survives.' Her father, the honorable Ned Stark, had taught her that. He always said how important family was. She had to stop that train of thought in its tracks. She couldn't bare to think about her father or her family. How they were all gone.

She preferred to dwell on her fantasies of revenge instead of the memories of her family. Even her fondest memories of Winterfell with her family were tainted. They were all gone. Out of her reach. She had desperately wanted to return to her brother Robb and her mother. She had journeyed across the Riverlands when a green light filled the sky and she woke up in a strange wood. Alone.

She had spent weeks venturing into the small town that sat along the coastline. She had learned that these people, while not from Westeros, did not know how the ended up in this place. Although they did seem to have a firm grasp on the strange contraptions, like the metal boxes that travelled faster than any horse. So she remained alone, not willing to risk trusting them.

She poked at the embers and turned the hare over as she roasted her dinner. She needed to focus on the task at hand. If she focused on the here and now she wouldn't become a prisoner to her dark thoughts_. Rivers will burn dry, trees will climb hills, birds will sink or swim and the departed will walk again, what was lost will be returned and enemies will stand united. _ The warning kept replaying in her head. 'A bunch of pig shit if you ask me', she muttered to dead rabbit.

"I do hope it tastes better than that my dearie"

Arya jumped to her feet holding her new knife in her hand in a defensive stance. She had been stupid to let her guard down even for a minute. She didn't hear the intruder approach. "Whose there?" Arya's voice did not betray her as the man stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself. It has been two days since she saw him in the cage. In that time he had had shaved and changed into clean clothes. "Go away."

"That's no way to speak to your guests girl, tsk tsk. I told you to stay hidden and safe and here you are sitting in the open with a fire. A beacon to any and all who happen to look up." He pointed with but hands up to where the smoke of her fire wafted in the sky.

She ignored his reprimand and threw her own words at him. "I know what you are. You're a trickster, conjurer, touched in the head and I want you gone." Arya had lost hours of sleep thinking about the man in the cage. He reminded her of the characters in a story old nan would tell around a fire late in the evening. She no longer cared for stories about things going bump in the night.

"Close dearie, but no. Now drop that knife for we haven't much time." He held his arms out in a placating manor to show that he was unarmed. She didn't trust him. 'See with your eyes' Syrio had said. She could see that the madness was gone from his beady eyes but he was still a threat. His small frame might not be muscular enough to overpower her in hand to hand combat but she understood how using peoples underestimation of strength was a weakness. She relaxed her stance but never once did she lower her weapon.

"I'm not stupid." He continued to stand there refusing to move waiting for her to acquiesce. After a heated staring contest her curiosity won out. "Time for what?"

"Aha you start to ask the right questions." He gestured to the ground and with the air of a high lord sat down. He offers her a seat as though she is the interloper to small clearing. She doesn't know what game he is playing at. Like Lord Baelish, his motives are for him alone to know. She sits down.

"Winter is coming." He muses. "I keep hearing that, like a whisper on the wind. 'winter is coming'. You're a long way from home girl. I can get you back." She glares at him. He thinks he is clever, offering, her hearts desire like its his to grant. He continues. "Listen closely for I will no repeat myself. You are out of your depths here, you have no allies and war is coming. The people of Storybrooke are too preoccupied with Zelena's temper tantrum see the signs." He looks at her gravely.

"I have seen my future and there is only way I survive….way we all survive"

"Whose Zelena?"

"Don't waste your time, I will deal with that conniving bitch but all in due course. You are to go on a journey, an errand of sorts and procure a weapon that will change the tides of the war." His tone is clipped. He needs her to do this. He has seen it in his vision, If only he had more time to relay the importance. Children of his world were more pliable. Zelena would call for him shortly. He needed to focus. Play to her desires.

"So you've seen my future?" The skepticism is dripping from her voice. "Fat chance."

"The future isn't set dearie. I can see you taking one of two paths. You haven't decided who you want to be…yet, therefore there it is clouded in fog. But I do know if you ever want to see your family again you will go on this errand for me."

"What makes you think I will do anything for you?"

"Because I know what it means to lose your family. One would tear apart realms and defy the laws of time to reach them. Sink into madness and damn the consequences and collateral damage. Even if it was only for a moment, a last chance to say goodbye." For the briefest of moments his face crumpled and he looked, not like a mad man, but a man driven mad by grief. If she hadn't been paying rapt attention she would have missed. She realized she needed to adjust her attitude with dealing with this man.

"What sort of errand."

"One that I can't do myself. You northerners have your bedtime stories. We have ours, although yours are the stuff of nightmares. Those nightmares are coming. There is a man who marches towards this town to capture the magic for his own. He has bent the wills of the wraiths to his own and he has his eye on the throne. Once he has captured their magic there will be no stopping him. He will have the power to take the Iron Throne other realms will fall to his will."

As he spoke the temperature in the clearing dropped and Arya felt a tingle run down her spine. Old nan told stories of the wraiths. When she was younger she had loved the scary stories, would beg for more and would tease Sansa when she pressed the palms of her hands to her ears to tune them out. Now in the light of day, with the possibility that they were real, the stories didn't seem as fun. She refused to believe him. "You're a liar" she spat.

"You have seen far too much to doubt me. Where do stories come from, hmm? You think it all the wild imagining of some fool? No, they all have an origin, Why do we exists and they don't." He let the silence fall between them. Watching the range of emotions and thoughts march across the young girls face.

"Everything comes at a price. He made his deal to get his army but there is a way to defeat them. A weapon of sorts. You are going to retrieve it."

"How?" In his first show of magic he flicks his wrist and the smoke from the small fire thickened into a solid sheet of smoke. With another flick of his wrist in folded in onto itself rolling like a thundercloud hovering a few feet above them. The smoke acted like a screen to reflect images of old covered water well. Arya had seen it weeks ago. It sat on a hill overlooking the town. The area was eerie and Arya had decided to keep moving and try and find water someplace else. Dread filled her heart.

"It is where you must go."

She arched her brow at him. "The weapon is a water well? Are we supposed to throw water on them?" Rumple pinched the bridge between his nose and grumbled.

"Gods save me from honorable fools." And in a louder voice, "No dearie you have to go IN the well to get the weapon."

"Than what?"

"That dearie is for you to find out. Just know that everything comes at a price, you will be tested, no, don't ask me how for I do not know. I can tell you that only a trueborn child of the north can retrieve this weapon."

"Why can't you do it? You clearly have magic, why don't you go down the well and…"

"Clearly you are not listening. I cannot." He refrained from telling her that he currently was at the mercy of Wicked Witch of the West. As long as she held his dagger he was a slave to her will.

"So you agree you need me more than I need you." Arya's face stayed impassive. Rumple was caught off guard and stared at her.

"That is not what I said." He clearly underestimated her deductive skills.

"But you implied it. You said everything comes at a price. What do I get out of doing this errand for you?"

"Why the noble burden of righting wrongs and returning to your family if all goes well." He half smirked.

Arya rose from her sitting position. She was short for a twelve year old and thin from lack of a steady diet. But she was strong and the confidence of ten men twice her size. She was a Stark. She seemed to tower over the imp. "That is where you are wrong. I do miss my family. But I have accepted my fate, that I may never see them again," she bluffed. "I don't believe that some magical mad man holds the secrets to their return. 'Noble burden'? horse shit. My father was the honorable man, he was burdened by truth and it cost him his head. Do not dare assume I will make the same mistake. So I ask again what do I get from helping you?"

A grin spread across Rumples face. This girl had gumption. She might save them yet. "Fine, you find this weapon…and I will owe you a favor." Looking at her suspicious glare he added, "ah, that is a powerful thing. To be owed a favor from me."

"Make it three." The grin quickly vanished from his face.

"Watch it dearie. You are not the only daughter of the north"

"But I am the only you can find. I figure you would owe me three favors."

"How do you get to that fine number?" He did not like being on the other side of negotiations.

"Well, you owe me one up front, and one for after I complete your errand. The third will be a present to me for my twelfth nameday. Which is today."

"One"

"Three" These negotiations were going nowhere and he could feel the pull of the dagger. Time was coming to a close.

"One and I will give you gift, for the your errand. I can give a spell that will grant you light even in the darkest of places when ever you wish"

"Sounds like more work for me."

"Two and the light." His loathe to admire her gumption.

"Two, the light gift and…"She squared her shoulders looking him smugly in the eyes knowing she had him in her crosshairs. "You can never reveal my identity to anybody." He coked his head in a twitchy motion.

"Why would you want that?"

"I am Arya Stark of house Winterfell, My father was hand of the king and murdered by the bastard king Joffrey. My sister is the kings hostage, my brother has declared himself king of the North. I trust no one. I will be a hostage to no one."

He looked her up and down. He didn't care for these northerners, they where too sure of themselves. However, he would have gladly made an offer of 5 favors and the deeds to all his lands. But it was best that she felt like she won this negotiation. It would suite his purposes that she was anonymous. "You Arya Stark are caged wolf. I pity your enemies the day you are set free. Very well, we have a deal"

She preened. "Now about that light."

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**~Ruby~**

Ruby threw her coat on the rack and arched her back to relieve the tension in her shoulders. She had just returned from her second funeral in as many weeks. Emil was barely cold in his grave and Neal died. She brushed away the tears that were constantly leaking from her eyes.

She felt like a fake. She hardly knew Emil. Yet he was dead and buried and she felt guilty. If he hadn't taken over her chore he would still be alive. She might not have survived the attack but her wolf side would have given her fighting chance. She knew her tears were not dedicated to his memory but to her own guilt and the resonating fear she felt when she found him.

She shed no tears for Neal. He was a sorry sack of shit and she was not afraid to admit it. However, his demise hurt the ones she cared about. But for now, on this day she needed to pull herself together. Whatever his faults might be, and they were too numerous to count, he had warned them. He revealed the mastermind behind the town's current quagmire of evil.

She squashed down her sadness and smoothed the invisible wrinkles from her short black dress. Granny's dinner was serving for Neal's wake and she needed to help set up the food and drinks. Work would occupy her mind for now. Granny was good at keeping a body too exhausted to dwell on matters of the heart.

The mourners began to file into the diner. They wanted to pay their respects for Emma and her family. Did they feel the same way she did? Neal had not lived among them long enough to gain that many friends. He had pushed them away like he did his father Rumplestiltskin.

"Ruby, Thank you so much for doing this." The soft voice of her best friend, Snow White, startled her from her thoughts.

"It was nothing Snow. How is our girl doing?" She bobbed her in Emma's direction.

"I don't know." Snow's shoulders slumped in the all too familiar defeat and sadness that accompanied her whenever talking about her daughter. Emma was loved with such devotion by her parents and yet denied them with her indifference. She loved her goddaughter, (yes that's right Ruby was not so little anymore Emma's godmother) but she wanted to beat some sense in her. You do not shoot a gift horse in the mouth and that is what Emma was doing day in and day out. She needed to learn to forgive and accept.

"She'll come around Snow. She's just being stubborn." She hugged her friend on the side. Snow's very pregnant belly prevented her from being able to give her a full embrace.

"I hope so. I think Hook is helping. I'm not thrilled with the idea of Pirate pursuing my daughter but I see the way he looks at her. I see the way she looks at him when she doesn't think he is looking. It reminds me how charming looked at me in the beginning. She's learning to rely on other people. But I swear, losing Neal, its like we took one giant step back."

"Let's just focus on getting through this Zelena problem. That is one bitch's grave I would gladly dance on."

"RUBY! Language." Snow placed her hands on either side of her belly like she was covering the babies ears from four letter words."

"What? I am glad Wale gave the okay, that Zelena didn't do anything to harm my future godbaby." She patted her friend's belly.

"Me too. It would take a wicked witch to get David to let me see Dr. Wale." Snow's cheeks warmed with a blush remembering her failed attempt of dating as the cursed Mary Margaret.

"Give her some space on the mom front. She will come to you when she's ready." She hugged her friend again.

The watched as Emma stood in the front of the diner talking to the dashing pirate in hushed tones. A small boy with a blue cap exited the bathrooms and cut his way through the crowd. As he neared the entrance he tripped on a chair and fell into the pirates back.

"Easy kid, watch your step." Emma bent over to steady the boy.

The kid mumbles something unintelligible.

"No harm my good man." Hook patted the boy's shoulder and paused to scrutinize the boys face.

Just as quickly as the kid appeared he disappeared out the front door with strands of blond hair and a button from a leather coat.

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Thanks for your continuation on reading:

I promise to get a new chapter out at least every two weeks. Reviews are my addiction please let me know what you think


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